• Introduction to network penetration testing • Working with bind and reverse shells • Antimalware evasion techniques • Working with wireless adapters • Managing and Monitoring wireless modes

The following are typical phases of network penetration testing:

  1. Defining the scope: The scope provides a clear understanding of which systems and networks are to be tested and whether specific tools or techniques are restricted.
  2. Performing reconnaissance: This is the information-gathering phase, where the penetration tester performs both passive and active reconnaissance on the target.
  3. Scanning and enumeration: The scanning and enumeration phase is commonly used to collect specific details and information about the target such as open ports, running services, and operating systems, and identify user accounts, network shares, and configurations on targeted systems.
  4. Vulnerability analysis: During this phase, the penetration tester analyzes the collected data from the previous phases to identify any potential security vulnerabilities on the target, determine their severity and risk rating, and identify countermeasures to help the organization improve their cyber defenses.
  5. Exploitation: In this phase, the ethical hacker or penetration tester attempts to exploit each security vulnerability found on a targeted system using both manual and automated techniques to determine whether the security vulnerability actually exists and gain a foothold on the target.
  6. Post-exploitation: Once a targeted system is compromised, the penetration tester will attempt to expand their foothold further into the compromised system and onto other systems within scope. During this phase, the penetration tester can identify additional security vulnerabilities on the target.
  7. Reporting: This is one of the most important phases during any penetration test. The penetration tester is required to provide a detailed technical and executive report to the stakeholders of the targeted organization with information about the security assessment, the techniques used to discover the security vulnerabilities, the security vulnerabilities that were found, and recommendations on how to improve the security posture of the targeted system.
  8. Remediation: Based on the information in the report, the organization can implement the necessary steps needed to remediate the identified security vulnerabilities on the targeted system. The process may involve applying security controls and patches and improving the configuration of systems and devices. Some examples of security controls may include network segmentation, encryption, access controls, and intrusion detection systems (IDSs). The vulnerability rating and severity should be used to help organizations prioritize higher-risk vulnerabilities and allocate resources to remediate them.
  • Penetration testing encompasses a broad range of activities beyond identifying patch management inefficiencies. These activities include testing application-layer vulnerabilities, network-layer vulnerabilities, and human-based (social engineering) vulnerabilities.
  • In addition, this helps organizations thoroughly assess their cyber defenses and determine whether their systems, networks and infrastructure are compliant with various industry standards and frameworks. For instance, organizations that process a payment card system are required to be Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)-compliant to protect sensitive data during a payment transaction.